Convention badge holder



Dec- 5, 1967 E. E. KLEIN ETAL 3,355,826

. CONVENTION BADGE HOLDER Filed Feb. 25, 1965 United States Patent O M3,355,826 CONVENTION BADGE HOLDER Erich E. Klein, Chicago, and RichardJ. Schwarz, Gien Ellyn, lll., assignors to Erell Manufacturing Company,Chicago, Iii., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 25, 1966, Ser. No.530,205 2 Claims. (Cl. 40--1.5)

This invention `relates to convention badge holders and moreparticularly concerns a holder which has upper and lower dividedcompartments, adapted to be worn in the breast pocket of a coat orjacket or shirt with the lower compartment in the pocket and the uppercompartment projecting thereabove to display an identity card, or thelike.

One of the problems in the use of :a badge holder of the type indicatedis that apparel pockets, and more particularly jacket pockets, vary indepth. Therefore, if the device is made long enough to lit into thedeepest of such pockets, the upper or identification carryingcompartment projects upwardly to an undesirable extent from a shallowerpocket. If the device is made short enough to fit agreeably in a shallowpocket, the lower portion of the upper compartment will be concealedwithin a deeper pocket. Furthermore, identication badge cards yare oftenmade wider than the generally standard width of jacket breast pockets.

An important object of the present invention is to overcome theforegoing and other problems in convention badge holders of thecharacter indicated.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will bereadily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing,in which:

FIGURE .1 is a front elevational view of a convention badge holderembodying features of the invention and in dicating the same within adeep jacket breast pocket;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the same holder mounted in ashallower pocket; and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional detail view takensubstantially along the lines III-III of FIGURE 1.

A convention badge holder embodying the present invention is desirablymade from resiliently flexible thermoplastic sheet material including avertically elongated rear panel 5 and a superimposed front panel 7coextensive inV length with the rear panel. At least the front panel 7is desirably made from a transparent or translucent sheet, although as apractical matter both of the panels yare generally made from the samematerial.

In order to provide between the panels 5 and 7 an upper compartment 8for receiving and holding in display position a conventionidentification or like card 9 and a lower compartment 10 for housing andsupporting a convention program or like card 11, the panels are securedtogether in a manner to afford attachment along three edges of each ofthe respective quadrangular compartt ments 8 and 10, with a respectiveopening throughoutthe length of the remaining edge of each compartmentfor reception and removal of the respective card. In one desirablearrangement, the panels 5 and 7 are heat sealed or electronically weldedtogether along their upper and lower coterminus marginal edges and alongone entire vertical side, herein the left side, although if preferred,the right side may be secured. This results in a narrow fusion area 12(FIG. 3) spaced a limited distance `from the edge of the article, and anarrow reinforcing rib or bead 13 running continuously about the securededges. To avoid sealing the openings into the compartments 8 and 10while utilizing the welding technique on the entire perimeter of theholder to enable tear thinning the material entirely 3,355,826 PatentedDec. 5, 1967 ICC about the perimeter for easy separation from the stockmaterial, the compartment opening edge of the front panel 7 is inset alimited distance from the adjacent edge of the rear panel 5, as shown.This also facilitates leading the respective cards into thecompartments. To facilitate manipulation of at least the larger lowercard 11, the free edge of the panel 7 along the compartment 10 isdesirably provided with a shallow arcuate clearance notch or cutout 14.

To separate the compartments 8 and 10, the panels 5 and 7 are connectedtogether by an intermediate horizontal fusion line 15. Such connectionis located at such a distance from the bottom edge of the holder as tocoincide substantially with the top edge of a breast pocket 17 of a mansjacket, with the lower end of the holder resting in the bottom of thepocket. Thereby the lower portion of the holder comprising thecompartment 10 is housed within the pocket, while the upper portion ofthe holder comprising the compartment Sis maintained in view above theupper edge of the pocket to afford an effective display of the badgecard 9.

Although the holder may be of the same pocket-fitting width from top tobottom, where the badge card 9 is of greater width than the standardpocket width, the upper compartment 8 portion of the holder may beconstructed of a conforming greater width. This is desirablyaccomplished by offsetting the upper portion of the holder, that is theportion above the connection 15, to that side which is opposite to theopening into the upper compartment 8. Considered conversely, the lowerlonger compartmented portion of the holder may be narrower than theupper portion by insetting its closed vertical edge length relative tothe upper compartment portion of the holder. In any event, thisconfiguration provides an offsetting overhang 18 on the closed verticaledge generally aligned with the horizontal connection 15 and to overliethe upper side edge of the pocket. Through this arrangement, the lowerportion of the holder may be standardized as to width in relation to thenarrowest breast pocket width likely to be encountered.

As to length, a problem exists because there is no tailoring trade orindustry standard as to exact jacket breast pocket depth. Such depth mayvary as much as an inch in different garments. While it may be notedthat the shallower pockets are -about 4% inches in depth, some may be asmuch as 51/2 to 6 inches deep.

It has therefore been proposed to provide on the front panel of theholder, adjacent to the connection 15, a downwardly extending tab orflap to hook on over the top edge of the pocket to maintain the uppercompartment area of the holder fully exposed above the top edge of thepocket. However, such a ilap has certain disadvantages. First, it adds acost factor since it requires a die cutting operation. Further, sincethe flap projects along thefront vator, or by the users sleeve, and thelike, and the holder f thus dislodged and liable to be lost.

According to the' present invention, variations in pocket depth areaccommodated by providing the holder with a separable lower endextension 19. For adequate stiffness, the extension 19 comprises adouble thickness of the material as provided by the lapningly relatedpanels 5 and 7 which are extended coextensively to provide the extension19. Closing the lower edge of the compartment 10 and integrallyseparably connecting the extension 19 is a fused sealing and tear seam20 extending entirely across the panel assembly, defining the lower edgeof the compartment 10 and the top edge of the extension 19. For thispurpose the seam 20 includes a narrow fusion band area 21 providing aclosure seal along the lower edge of the compartment 10. Along the loweredge of the fusion area 21 is a reinforcing bead rib 22 narrowly spacedfrom a similar reinforcing bead rib 23 along the upper edge of theextension 19 and which borders the upper edge of a fusion band area 24on the extension. Between the reinforcing beads 22 and 23 is a narrowtear thinning connection 25. In a desirable structure, the fusion areas21 and 24 are about the thickness of one panel l-ayer, while the tearthinning connection 25 is about half that thickness, or in any event, ofsuch thinness that although it has adequate strength to resistreasonable pressures and tensions, it lends itself readily tointentional tearing separation. In practice, the tear thinningconnection 25 is slightly thicker than the tear thinning separationeffected about the perimeter of the holder including the outsideperimeter portions of the extension 19. Thereby although all of theperimeter connections and seals and tear thinning as well as theintermediate connection 15 and the tear seal seam 20 are simultaneouslyeffected by an electronic die, for example, the tear thinning connection25 will resist separation when the holder is separated from surroundingscrap and contiguously formed holders. In order to facilitate tearingseparation of the extension 19 from the body of the holder, a startingindentation 27 is desirably provided at least at one end of the seam 20aligned with the tear thinning connection 25.

By normally providing the holder with the separable lower terminalextension 19, the holder is adapted to support the upper compartment 8effectively above the upper edge of the pocket 17 which is of the deepervariety. It has been found that by having the extension of about s-inchheight, the range of depths generally found in deeper pockets isaccommodated satisfactorily insofar as adequate exposure of the badgecard 9 is concerned. For a shallower pocket 17 (FIG. 2) the extension 19is removed by tearing it free along the connection line 25, as indicatedin dash outline in FIG. 3. After such separation, insertion of the lowerportion of the holder into the pocket enables the separated lower edgecontiguous to the lower compartment 10 to engage the bottom of thepocket and avoids excessive upward extension of the holder. When theuser rst tries the badge holder in the pocket, it will be readilyapparent to him by observing the intermediate line of connection as agage along the top of the pocket whether or not it would be desirable toseparate the extension 19 from the'holder in order to attain asatisfactory relative positioning of the upper compartment 8 above theupper edge of the pocket.

It will thus be apparent that we have provided a new and advantageousconvention badge holder construction of the ty-pe in which a verticallyelongated body has an upper card-receiving compartment with a cardreceiving opening thereinto, and a lower supporting portion adapted toengage within garment breast pockets of variable depths to maintain thecompartment exposed above the top edge of the pocket within whichsupported. A lower end extension is provided on the supporting portionto engage the bottoms of maximum depth pockets while maintaining thecompartment exposed above the top edge of the pocket within whichsupported. The extension is 60 separably connected to the lower endportion of the holder body by means enabling removal of the extension toshorten the lower portion to engage the bottoms of relatively shallowpockets to avoid excessive projection of the upper compartment above thetop edges of such pockets. Although the lower portion of the holder maybe standardized to be accommodated in pockets of narrow width, the uppercompartment portion of the holder may be of increased width to receivebadge cards of greater width than such narrow pockets, and such relativewidth differential is conveniently effected at one side of the holder.

It will be understood that modification and variations may be effectedwithout departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the presentinvention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A convention badge holder comprising:

a vertically elongated body of a pair of separate at least translucentpanels in generally laminar relation secured together along the top andbottom and one side edge by a fusion seam, with the remaining side edgeopen;

a fused connection line extending across the holder body intermediateits top and bottom edges and closer to the top edge than the bottom edgeand delining between the panels the lower edge of an upper compartmentand the upper edge of a lower compartment between the panels and saidcompartments having card-receiving respective openings thereinto alongsaid open edge, said lower compartment being adapted to engage within agarment breast pocket to maintain the upper compartment exposed abovethe top edge of the pocket and the holder having a lower edge whichengages the bottom of the pocket for this purpose;

the lower end portion of said body comprising a vertically narrowseparable extension which will normally afford a vertical length for thelower compartment to be accommodated within a garment pocket ofrelatively greater depth than other pockets generally provided onsimilar garments so as to maintain the upper compartment properlyexposed above the top edge of the pocket;

and a fused sealing and tear seam connecting said extension integrallywith the remainder of the body and including a narrow tear thinningconnection between the extension and the body of such thinness thatalthough it has adequate strength to resist reasonable pressures andtensions it lends itself readily to intentional tearing separation andcomprising an integral fusion thinning of less thickness than theindividual thickness of said panels, and reinforcing bead means alongsaid connection.

2. A holder as defined in claim 1, in which said body has a startingindentation at one end of and aligned with said tear thinning connectionto facilitate tearing separation of said extension.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/ 1957 Phillips 2-279 ll/l965Wright -1.5

